Simulating the blood flow in human vasculature
Mentor 1
Mahsa Debagh
Start Date
1-5-2020 12:00 AM
Description
Advances in computing technology have allowed the field and research of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to evolve and find solutions to an ever-expanding array of complex real-world problems. One of the most sought out scenarios simulated by CFD is the flow of blood throughout the body. Since many diseases that affect the body are related to blood flow, this line of research has great potential to aid the progress of medical intervention and treatment. However, since the body has many vascular structures, each having their own complex shapes and sizes, this often makes developing accurate models for blood flow difficult. Fortunately, there are many available CFD libraries and resources to aid in the understanding and application of accurate CFD simulations. One such library called Palabos has found popular use as an open source CFD library that provides highly customizable functionality for those who need flexibility and multithreading capabilities. The objective of my research is to apply the Palabos CFD library to simulate blood flow in patient-specific vascular geometries. The focus will be to examine the association between hemodynamic features and areas of aneurysm growth to present the key hemodynamic parameters essential for an accurate prediction of the growth and to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Patient-specific images of a growing cerebral aneurysm in 2 different growth stages are segmented and reconstructed. Our study will introduce an accurate criterion to explain the hemodynamic conditions predisposing the aneurysm to growth. Our findings will assist clinicians in differentiating stable and growing aneurysms during pre-interventional planning.
Simulating the blood flow in human vasculature
Advances in computing technology have allowed the field and research of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to evolve and find solutions to an ever-expanding array of complex real-world problems. One of the most sought out scenarios simulated by CFD is the flow of blood throughout the body. Since many diseases that affect the body are related to blood flow, this line of research has great potential to aid the progress of medical intervention and treatment. However, since the body has many vascular structures, each having their own complex shapes and sizes, this often makes developing accurate models for blood flow difficult. Fortunately, there are many available CFD libraries and resources to aid in the understanding and application of accurate CFD simulations. One such library called Palabos has found popular use as an open source CFD library that provides highly customizable functionality for those who need flexibility and multithreading capabilities. The objective of my research is to apply the Palabos CFD library to simulate blood flow in patient-specific vascular geometries. The focus will be to examine the association between hemodynamic features and areas of aneurysm growth to present the key hemodynamic parameters essential for an accurate prediction of the growth and to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Patient-specific images of a growing cerebral aneurysm in 2 different growth stages are segmented and reconstructed. Our study will introduce an accurate criterion to explain the hemodynamic conditions predisposing the aneurysm to growth. Our findings will assist clinicians in differentiating stable and growing aneurysms during pre-interventional planning.
